Margarete de Soleil
BIO:
Margarete de Soleil is an artist and illustrator who has exhibited nationwide, including at The Smithsonian Institution of Natural History and the Missoula Art Museum in Montana.
A graduate of the Maryland Institute, College of Art, de Soleil has also studied at The Maine College of Art and The New York Studio School. In the Hudson Valley of New York, she has exhibited at the Muroff-Kotler Gallery at SUNY Ulster, Albert Shahinian Gallery in Hudson, the Woodstock Artist’s Association and Museum, Woodstock School of Art, and at West Point with the Orange County Arts Foundation.
In addition to her personal artistic endeavors, de Soleil has taught middle school art in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine; she was an arts coordinator for the International Children’s Art Exhibit with Shimone, Japan; and curated an Estonian Art Exchange for Maine Schools. She has completed murals for the Maine Education Commission, for the Irvine Natural Science Center and the Cloisters Children’s Museum in Maryland.
De Soleil currently resides on the north side of Chicago where she continues to create works on paper based on her nature collections.
STATEMENT:
I create works on paper using layered chalk pastel and black ink to explore the relationship between natural forms, light, and shadow. My primary subjects are rounded river stones collected during time outdoors, which I arrange with careful attention to composition.
Viewed from above, these arrangements transform into visual narratives where texture, balance, and cast shadows engage in dialogue. My process emphasizes both the material presence of natural objects and the contemplative space they evoke. By layering color, line, and shadow, I examine the formal qualities of design while honoring the quiet rhythms of the natural world.
These drawings invite viewers to slow down, reflect, and find moments of stillness within an often hurried and conflicted world.
Email: desoleilstudio@gmail.com
Website: www.margaretedesoleil.com
Twitter: @deSoleilStudio
Instagram: @deSoleilStudio
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
Alignable: https://www.alignable.com/
Shop Evanston Made: de Soleil Art Studio
